Valerie
by snoozin81
Summary: She's tired of coming in second to Rachel Berry.


She's appraising herself in a full length mirror at the back of the ladies changing room, lining her eyes and blotting her lips. She looks damn good in the dress that Kurt picked out for her. No lie, her brand new puppies are totally on display. She's already gotten several phone numbers and she's pretty sure some guy got bitch slapped just for starring.

"You look super hot," Brittany says stepping up behind her and resting her chin on Santana's shoulder.

"Worth every penny," Santana replies readjusting her boobs as she glances at the clock on the wall behind the mirror. "Perfect," she mumbles smirking at Brittany's reflection as she gives her friend a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm going to go find Puckerman."

He's not where he's supposed to be but she recognizes his voice through a closed door marked _office_.

"Come on baby, he doesn't have to know. It could be our little secret."

She reaches for the door knob ready to break up his little party because he's supposed to be _her_ date and she'll be damned if she's going to let her dress go to waste. But then there's a second voice and she recognizes it too—_Rachel Berry_.

"Noah, I can't—we can't."

She's thinking about opening the door and putting Rachel Berry in her place once and for all when she spots Finn out of the corner of her eye, disappearing into the Sunday school room that's been designated as the men's changing area, and decides to follow him instead.

It doesn't go well and she walks away seething mad with the words, _Rachel Berry must die_, playing on repeat inside her head.

She's sitting alone watching Puck spin the new Mrs. Hummel around the dance floor when she catches sight of Rachel. She's tired of coming in second to that troll. Normally, in instances like these, she'd go after her nemesis' popularity—hit them where it hurts the most. Unfortunately Man-hands is already at the bottom of the social heap.

"Having fun?" Mr. Schuster asks taking the empty seat beside her.

"You know me, life of the party." She replies picking at the finger foods on the plate in front of her. "What about you, waxing nostalgic about your _failed_ attempt at matrimony? I mean, you of all people should know what a complete waste of time this all is."

"Wanting to spend your life with somebody isn't a waste of time."

She rolls her eyes and leans back in her chair crossing her arms over her chest. "It does if that person doesn't want to spend _their_ life with _you_."

She doesn't mean to look at Puck, _she doesn't_, but her eyes drift that way and apparently Mr. Schuster catches it, "You and Puck?"

She scoffs loudly, "Please tell me that's your lame-ass attempt at a joke. I wouldn't marry Puckerman if this was _I am Legend_ and he was the last man on earth. Once a Lima loser, always a Lima loser."

"That's not true."

"Keep telling yourself that, maybe one day you'll actually make it out of this Podunk town."

He sighs, pushing himself up from the chair and muttering a discouraged, "_okay."_

She knows he was just trying to help, knows she's being a complete bitch for no reason and she feels kind of bad about it but her life's kind of shit right now. She doesn't want to admit that Quinn was right about her and Puck—they're not dating, they're fucking—and Brittany's been glued to Artie like his cock is made of gold.

"Mr. Schue," she says, stopping him from retreating. "I didn't—" she begins scowling as she tries to find the words. Apologies taste like acid on her tongue. "Sorry or you know, whatever."

"It's fine," he offers reassuringly.

She waves a hand towards the dance floor and asks, "Do you maybe want to dance?"

"I'm not sure that would be appropriate, Santana."

She rolls her eyes again because he's totally clueless and stands so she's not forced to look up at him anymore. "Relax, I'm not hot for teacher but you're dateless and my date is busy chasing skirt so…what do you say?"

He leads her out on to the dance floor after a brief hesitation. The song playing is up beat so they don't really have to touch or anything. For a second she forgets about Rachel, about Puck, about everything that's gone wrong in her life. Unfortunately the distraction is short lived because the moment the song ends Rachel's taking center stage, a microphone held tightly in her hand.

"I'd like to dedicate this song to my amazing boyfriend as well as his mother and her new husband. I love you Finn."

Santana can feel the bile rising up in the back of her throat as the first strands of Journey's _Open Arms_ fills the room. She thinks about high jacking Puck's car keys and bailing on the festivities all together, seriously this love fest is making her ill, but then Mr. Schuster holds his hand out to her and she gets the best idea ever.

"Is the set list for Sectionals set in stone?" she asks stepping into Mr. Schuster's embrace and matching his movements as they glide around the dance floor.

"I'm open to suggestions."

She glances up at Rachel, a smug smile twisting her lips. When Mr. Schuster turns her away from the stage she pulls back just enough to look him in the eyes as she exclaims, "I'd like to tryout for a solo."


End file.
